Hacker News: zejn

New comment by zejn in "What's missing to have reproducible builds on PyPI"

zejn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:17:33 +0000

I'm not sure I can have reproducible AppImage (SquashFS image) without reproducible wheels?

New comment by zejn in "Just Bury Your Trash"

zejn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:13:42 +0000

Sure, as you can also reuse single use razors.

But the main benefit of single use is reducing the chances of skin inflammation after using the razor.

If using single-use razors, I'd recommend replacing just the blades, not the razor.

New comment by zejn in "Just Bury Your Trash"

zejn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:07:18 +0000

It's not great, but burning trash in controlled incinerator is still much better than burning trash in an uncontrolled underground landfill fire.[1]

[1] https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2026-08-06/bo...

New comment by zejn in "Just Bury Your Trash"

zejn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 15:04:08 +0000

Has anyone tried recycling old t-shirt into a shopping bag?

New comment by zejn in "Just Bury Your Trash"

zejn — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 14:55:50 +0000

Just a note: Razors are single use for health reasons - not reusing razor significantly reduces chances of inflammation.

New comment by zejn in "What's missing to have reproducible builds on PyPI"

zejn — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:40:21 +0000

I don't know what your experience is, but I can pack a reproducible AppImage containing a Python virtual environment and it works okay.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 16:09:40 +0000

The point is apparently being missed.

There has been a long standing request to split Germany into multiple price zones[1], because Germany as a single zone does not adequately match the underlying network transmission limitations and there have been multiple occasions where power flowed through neighboring zones, which in turn required both network upgrades[2] in the zones neighboring Germany and expensive redispatch[3] in the south Germany. Industry in the south of Germany fights this back as this would mean the energy prices in the south would rise (and drop in the north), as when the transmission lines are congested, the prices start to diverge.

Keeping Germany a single zone is essentially a subsidy to Bavarian industry. The industry fights this so hard that it has basically become an energy insider joke.

[1] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/grid-operators-recommen...

[2] https://www.pse.pl/web/pse-eng/news/news/-/asset_publisher/6...

[3] https://www.ffe.de/en/projects/potential-for-reducing-redisp...

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 11:48:43 +0000

Don't tell the UK they aren't supposed to be getting >15% of grid power via solar panels, because it's more efficient if the panels are in Spain.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 11:42:55 +0000

> similar as in Sweden

-- which has 4 bidding zones.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 09:47:18 +0000

Ah, that's nice to hear. This also means we won't have to have another type of hardware on grid, since the batteries can make this work.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 08:47:52 +0000

They could also just split the Germany into multiple bidding zones, then north parts of Germany would have a lot of cheap wind power, similar as in Sweden.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 08:13:57 +0000

No, these are two different things. One is stability market, where batteries are now king, the other is physics of fault ride-through, where actual physical inertia is a real neccessity, at least for the time being. That is why synchronous condensers are installed.

Every major renewable grid has installed additional intertia to avoid blackouts.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 07:55:17 +0000

It is, but you have to read it and you need some degree of prior knowledge to understand it correctly, as with everything.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 07:54:10 +0000

That's some serious cherrypicking.

Where CAL27 low is either limited interconnectors (Nordics and Spain) or major nuclear (France). The other countries have CAL27 over 80 eur.

New comment by zejn in "Spain has become one of Europe’s cheapest power markets"

zejn — Mon, 11 May 2026 05:58:10 +0000

Ha, yes, a lot of deniers/delayers are going on about how Germany "wasted" billion on renewables, when in fact they had a booming solar industry, which got nuked by politicians, who changed the policies, as can be seen in 39C3 video "Recharge your batteries with us".

Was the subsidy system which was in effect in 2010's unsustainable? I think so, yeah. But the changed policies resulted in companies producing solar going bust, and the Chinese firms, which were doing fine, were able to buy out the patents and know how.

So, did Germany waste billions? Yes, but by letting the solar producers go bust.

New comment by zejn in "Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing"

zejn — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 10:36:32 +0000

Yeah, if you're buying a new car, electric makes sense if at all possible. But a lot of people are not buying new cars, because new cars are not cheap. There's a saying that a new car loses half of its value the moment it's driven away from the dealership.

But I agree, operational costs of an EV can be much lower, if you can charge at home rates.

New comment by zejn in "Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing"

zejn — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:43:53 +0000

They were deregulated on highway for a very long time. Deregulation came to off-highway in 2020 as the loss of demand due to covid made the prices drop. Rusian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent price hikes made the govt regulate the prices again.

Somewhere in between, a feud started between the largest provider Petrol and govt, and govt started regulating the highway prices too for no good reason.

New comment by zejn in "Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing"

zejn — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:01:42 +0000

The problem with getting rid of oil is that cars currently in use will be usable even when over 20 years old, replacing them with EVs is expensive, and the good enough and economically accessible EVs are only now starting to get to market.

It's really hard to quickly replace millions of vehicles.

New comment by zejn in "Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing"

zejn — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:58:38 +0000

Yes, but it is not enough. It helps a lot when sunny, and weekend mid-day gross market prices for electricity hover just above zero, but there's not enough batteries, flexibility, and other renewables to avoid price spikes in the morning and evening peak, when hydro and gas plants are still covering a lot.

New comment by zejn in "Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing"

zejn — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 21:55:32 +0000

It's not a free market. Off-highway prices are regulated and were adjusted by the executive govt branch on biweekly basis, now switched to weekly. Slovenia is small and "gas tourism" is common since fossil juices in neighboring countries are priced higher.

Why not raise the prices? Sure, but then don't complain about the inflation, revolt, and stoning of elected representatives.